Wine and Spice: Curry Pairings!

6/25/11 -

There was a time when I thought a salt lassi or a cold beer were the only beverages that worked with a hot curry. I am not a subscriber to off-dry Riesling or full-flavored Gewurztraminer with Indian food. Riesling gets lost in the face of bold pungent spices and Gewurztraminer can be overkill with the rich dishes of South Asia.

Being of Mauritian descent, I grew up eating curry. A few years ago I found myself craving dishes that were familiar to my childhood. I was already well entrenched in the wine industry at this time and was adamant about drinking wine with my spice. So I explored. It was pure fluke one day when I happened to have a bottle of Oloroso knocking around the apartment that I poured a glass to have with a basic chicken curry and an aromatic lemon rice dish. It was a pretty amazing pairing, the savory and nutty quality of the sherry worked in synergy with the cumin, mustard seeds, and the smoky curry leaves.

Here’s the deal: as long as the curry isn’t overpowered with hot chilies, it turns out that oxidation is key to a crazy-good pairing. Flor works too. An Amontillado sherry offers the best of both worlds [flor and oxidation]. Meat, fish, or vegetable curries are delicious with a sous-voile (refers to a layer of yeast that covers the top of the wine while in cask and allows a very slow transference of oxygen to the wine) Savagnin or Chardonnay from the Jura. There is something about the tangy yeast and tertiary character of the wine that brings out the earthy and aromatic elements of masala.

An aged and slightly oxidative wine like Lopez de Heredia’s whites and their singular Rosado make good curry mates too. I’ve often detected a note of turmeric on the nose of a Vina Tondonia Reserva Blanco.

Oxidative and sous-voile isn’t the only way to go. Fresh, fruit-driven sparkling reds make good curry pairings. And some of our vin de soif (meaning "wine of thirst", similar to the US expression "quaffing wine") roses have enough lifted fruit for spice and, at the very least, they’ll douse the heat. As was the case with a recent affirming affinity I stumbled upon when I took a bite of spicy-hot kerala (bitter melon) pickle from a jar, followed by a sip of Catherine et Pierre Breton Clairet. An insanely delicious pairing.

Lemon Rice is my party trick favorite, appealing to bitter and sour palates, and it is the bomb with Oloroso.

Lemon Rice
(All of these ingredients can be found at Kalustyan’s on Lexington or Dowel Quality Products in the East Village)
Ingredients:
-1 cup of white Basmati rice
-juice of 2 lemons
-fresh ginger
-¼ cup of cashew nuts
-handful of fresh curry leaves
-1 heaped teaspoon of mustard seeds
-1 heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds
-pinch of turmeric powder
-cilantro
-1 small Thai chili pepper

Half cook white rice in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain and set aside. In a frying pan or wok add a little olive oil or ghee, throw in the mustard and cumin seeds, once they start to crack, add cashews, chopped ginger, chopped Thai chili pepper, and curry leaves. Sauté for about 2 minutes. Pour in lemon juice with a little water, add turmeric, season with salt, bring to a high heat, and add in the half cooked rice. Turn flame to low, let cook until the liquid is evaporated. Serve with freshly chopped cilantro. -pg